SUTTON COLDFIELD, England – It looked bleak in the early morning hours yesterday for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, which was taking its usual beating in the four-ball competition and staring at a possible severe deficit by day’s end.

“They put a hurting on us in the morning,” Paul Azinger said of the fired-up European side.

But by nightfall under darkening British skies at The Belfry, the Americans had stuck a dagger into the hearts of Europeans on Day One of the 34th Ryder Cup, surging back from an ominous 3-1 hole to close the day trailing by a point, 41/2-31/2.

Early on, it looked as if the United States was headed in a similar direction to the first day of the 1999 Ryder Cup at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., when the Americans fell behind 6-2.

Yesterday ended, however, with Phil Mickelson and David Toms clawing their way back from 3-down with four holes to play to halve their match, the day’s final competition, which was played out before an electrified gallery that included all of the U.S. and European players and captains and their wives and girlfriends.

“That half point was huge . . . huge for our psyche,” U.S. captain Curtis Strange said. “If we do well [tomorrow] afternoon, we might look at that match and say that might have been the one that turned it around.”

Indeed, Mickelson and Toms were down in their alternate-shot match, seemingly left for done against Ryder Cup veterans Colin Montgomerie and Bernhard Langer, when the Americans won Nos. 15, 16 and 17 to stand on the 18th tee all square.

With the U.S. team in trouble on 18 after a Mickelson drive into the rough, Toms barely reached the front of the deep green, leaving Mickelson some 45 yards to the pin.

Mickelson, with the world watching, pulled out his lob wedge without hesitation and pitched the ball from the green toward the flagstick, stunning even his own teammates as he carved a divot from the pristine green.

“I just told Phil in front of everybody on the team, ‘Some people might not agree with your club selection on the last hole, but all I can tell you is you got big [guts],’ ” Strange said.

“I didn’t feel comfortable putting it that far,” Mickelson said.

The ball flew past the stick and stopped about 12 feet away.

Montgomerie rolled a tricky chip past the cup and both teams ended up two-putting for the half, leaving the U.S. side euphoric and the Europeans wondering what might have been had they gotten it to 5-3.

“We’re going in disappointed,” Montgomerie conceded afterward.

“If I was being supremely critical, I’d say I was a tad disappointed,” European captain Sam Torrance said. “But we’re ahead, aren’t we? That will do me.”

The reality of the day for Europe is this: Their players took a 3-1 lead after the four-ball (best ball) competition and finished the day having handed Tiger Woods two losses and still they stand only one point ahead entering today’s morning alternate-shot competition.

After playing a stirring four-ball match with Azinger against Thomas Bjorn and Darren Clarke in the morning and performing well despite losing, Woods blew his afternoon match with Mark Calcavecchia against Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood with a shocking, poor putting display.

Woods (3-8-1 in his Ryder Cup career) missed two putts from inside 4 feet on Nos. 11 and 12 to turn the match into the Europeans’ favor.

Strange indicated that Woods lost his legendary focus on the putting miscues.

“You cannot allow yourself to slip at all in these matches,” Strange said. “[Woods] doesn’t feel real good right now, and that’s good. He’s disappointed, which is good. He probably feels as though he let the team down a bit, which is good. It makes you hungrier the next day.”